Chelsea close in on Falcao swoop after opening talks over £48.1m January move
The Atletico Madrid sensation has told the European champions he
wants to join them in the forthcoming window and is already believed to
have agreed personal terms
EXCLUSIVEBy Wayne Veysey | Chief Correspondent
Chelsea are closing in on the signature of Radamel Falcao after opening informal talks on a sensational £48.1 million January move, Goal.com has learned.
Club chiefs, acting on the instruction of
owner Roman Abramovich, have made it clear to Falcao that they want to
activate the €60m (£48.1m) release clause in his Atletico Madrid
contract.
Goal.com understands that the Colombian striker has
responded to the interest by telling Chelsea that he wants to move to
Stamford Bridge in the winter window.
Despite competing enquiries
in the 26-year-old from Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, Falcao
is now destined for a switch to Stamford Bridge at the turn of the
year.
The deal is a complex one because of
third-party ownership issues - with super agent Jorge Mendes part of a
consortium holding an interest in Falcao - but Chelsea have intensified
their efforts to land the front man in recent weeks in a bid to ensure
the transfer can be completed in January.
The European champions
have made Falcao a contract offer and it is believed that personal terms
have already been agreed on a deal that is likely to make the striker
one of the highest paid players in Premier League history.
Chelsea
manager Roberto Di Matteo regards the Fifa Ballon D’or contender as an
upgrade on Fernando Torres, who has had a mixed start to the season
despite scoring seven goals in 18 matches, each of them starts. The
future of Torres’ understudy Daniel Sturridge is also in considerable
doubt despite his presence in the England squad that plays Sweden on
Wednesday night.
Only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have
scored more than Falcao’s 10 La Liga goals this season, a record the
Colombia enhanced with a hat-trick against Chelsea in Atletico’s 4-1
Super Cup win in August.
Falcao has the pedigree and star quality
which Chelsea thought they had acquired with the £50m purchase of
Torres in January 2010 but the Spaniard is now likely to be put up for
sale to help fund the purchase of the player earmarked to be his
replacement.
Atletico are desperate to keep Falcao but will have
no option if a club activates the buyout clause for a player who cost
£34.7m when he joined from Porto in 2011.
After posting an annual
profit for the first time in Abramovich’s nine-year reign, Chelsea are
confident that signing Falcao would not affect the club’s chances of
meeting Uefa’s financial fair play regulations.
City’s chances of
landing the former River Plate front man are receding, even though
Roberto Mancini wants to take him to the Etihad Stadium.
Since moving from south America to Europe in 2009, Falcao has scored 121 goals in 147 matches for Porto and Atletico.
Source : Goal.com